Oxycodone Signs and Names

The warning signs of any opioid abuse, including abuse of oxycodone, include the following:

drowsiness

respiratory depression

needle tracks (if injected)

nightmares

anxiety

agitation

euphoria

dysphoria

depression

paranoia

hallucinations (in cases of high dosage)

Warning signs that may or may not indicate oxycodone use but deserve immediate attention include:

person cannot be awakened

person is having difficulty breathing

rash

constipation

inability to urinate

Because oxycodone is sometimes combined with other substances, the symptoms and therefore the warning signs may vary somewhat. Of course, since oxycodone is marketed in combination with aspirin and acetaminophen, it is sometimes used illegally in a combined form, and drug abusers do not always take the time to separate the oxycodone from the accompanying analgesic.

But other drugs are also used with oxycodones, and to clarify reporting, an analysis of fatalities was conducted. The following was discovered through the examination of 1014 oxycodone-related fatalities in 23 states from August 1999 to January 2002. Of those cases 919 were related to drug abuse. Of those 919, in only 30 was a form of oxycodone the only chemical reported, and of these, only 12 had OxyContin®. In 889 cases, there were multiple drugs•a form of oxycodone, and at least one other drug involved that could be reasonably considered to have contributed to the fatality. The most common ones were:

benzodiazepines

alcohol

cocaine

other narcotics

marijuana

antidepressants

Another sign of use can be the use of any of the street names for oxycodone.

What is Oxycodone called?

Picking up on the street names may provide a clue to the drug being abused. Since there are different names for each drug, it requires a broad knowledge.

Oxycodone

OxyContin® is only one form of Oxycodone, but many of the street terms appear to be used interchangeably, including these:

Hillbilly heroin

Kicker

OCs

Oceans

Orange County

O’s

Ox

Oxicotton

Oxy 80’s

Oxycet

Oxycoffins

Pills

Rushbo (this references Rush Limbaugh’s admission of addiction to OxyContin® in October of 2003)

Many of these are obvious adaptations of the name.

Others are specific to OxyContin®:

40

40-bar

80

O

Kicker

Oxy

And some are specific to Percodan®:

percs

perks

pink spoons

This is not a full listing, but it provides some idea of the variety of alternative terms there are for these substances.